[Art's Auto]

Originally Posted by ukrkoz

hello

i have question to those who replaced the shaft themselves.
ok, i have attempted this job once last year, relying on haynes manual. their directions turned out to be bogus. they said "losen 2 bolts, one at the gear box, one at the intermediate shaft, and slide shaft off" which is impossible to do, as shaft is backed by another shaft that comes out of firewall.

anyways, i have 2000 silverado. i read the post and it appears that shaft to be replaced is not the lower intemediate shaft, but the upper intermediate shaft. one that goes into firewall.
my assumption is, as i am dead fed up with that clunk, and it gets only worse (77K miles), that i have to remove a plastic panel that covers steering column; find upper intermediate to steering shaft nut or bolt; remove it; remove nut that connects upper intermediate shaft to lower intermediate shaft; slide shaft off steering column shaft and slide it off the lower shaft, pulling it out through the firewall, into the passenger compartment.
if this is correct, i have question: well, i have just picked under the hood, and there is no way the shafts will slide up or down for more than 1/8 of an inch. upper shaft is backed against the lower shaft, and lower shaft is backed against the steering gear box. there're no gaps for any "slide".

so, if you have done this before, please, let me know what am i missing? is the shafts assembly sliding UP into the dashboard on steering column splines so that it can come off the gear box and then be removed off steering shaft??

i have 3 days off coming, so it'd have been nice to have advice on this. also, making sure - it's the upper shaft that needs to be replaced, not the bottom one? as i tried to fix this last year and dealership told me that they are selling LOWER shafts mostly.

I replaced this shaft almost a year ago, and the fix is still working. There are only two bolts to remove - the lower one is under the hood about half way down the steering shaft assembly. The upper one is on the other side of the firewall under the dash. Both bolts are easy to see. You'll need to remove the throttle pedal (two bolts - easy) to get at the upper one. This intermediate shaft does compress enough to remove it - yours must be stuck (dried grease?). You'll need to bang on the intermediate shaft maybe? It WILL move and compress after you undo the lower bolt!. From a post I made last year: "I had this same problem on my '03 Silverado. Removing and replacing the shaft is very easy - if you don't mind laying on your back under the dash to get at the bolt on one end and bending over the fender to get at the bolt on the other end. The book says you need to remove the throttle pedal first (which I did - two nuts and it pulls out). The whole thing is really pretty easy. Just be sure to lock the steering wheel so you don't get things mis-aligned. "Stroking" the old one had no effect. Adding grease worked for a week or two. The new shaft has worked great for several months - I've almost forgotten about the whole thing! I purchased the new shaft in April."